Talking Points

Michelle Obama Talks Politics

First up, no spin. I like the first lady. She was incredibly gracious to me when I met her a few months ago.

As you may know, the White House has kept Mrs. Obama away from politics. Her primary cause has been the problem of overweight children. But this week the first lady appeared at the NAACP convention in Kansas City.

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA: When so many of our children still attend crumbling schools, and a black child is still far more likely to go to prison than a white child, I think the founders of this organization would agree that our work is not yet done. When stubborn inequality still persist in education and health, in income and wealth, I think those founders would urge us to increase our intensity, and to increase our discipline and our focus, and keep fighting for a better future for our children and our grandchildren.

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Mrs. Obama is not wrong. There are still many minority young people attending bad schools and having trouble with the law. But how to solve that problem is the crux of the debate.

The president and the first lady believe that the federal government must right wrongs in this area. They want big money and resources to pour into poor neighborhoods, funding a variety of programs.

The problem is that strategy is not cost effective anymore. The great society entitlement program is going on 50 years, and still ghettos remain, social problems abound.

Conservative Americans largely reject the big government programs that have cost the taxpayer trillions of dollars in favor of self-reliance and local solutions. And "Talking Points" believes that the feds should step back and allow the folks to correct problems in their own neighborhoods. As they said in the 1960s, power to the people.

Let's take black crime for example. African-Americans make up 13 percent of the population, but according to the Justice Department, they comprise 39 percent of violent crime convictions. Thirty-six percent of all murders in America are committed by African-Americans, and 90 percent of black homicide victims are killed by other blacks.

Now, some African-Americans blame an oppressive white society for their problems, and a case could be made for that some years ago. But now the landscape has changed.

Another example, Mrs. Obama cites crumbling schools. But many Democrats oppose school vouchers that provide opportunity for black children to attend better schools on the government's dime.

Why do liberals oppose school vouchers? Because they are protecting the teachers' unions.

I believe Michelle Obama is a good woman who wants the best for all Americans. But she is a liberal thinker and so is her husband, the president, and these big government entitlements are not working anymore. We need more targeted solutions.

Personal responsibility, good parenting and discipline in neighborhoods and schools are the keys to an equal and just society.

I don't think the NAACP believes that at all, but it's the truth.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

Singer Krista Branch, who performed on "American Idol," has written a song dedicated to the Tea Party people.